POLITICIANS HAVE SUPPORTED calls for the removal of election candidates home addresses from ballot papers in light of safety and privacy concerns.
As first reported by the Irish Examiner, Green party TD Patrick Costello has written to local government minister Kieran O’Donnell and the Electoral Commission about the issue.
Costello said the practice needs to end before next year’s local elections due to the dangers it poses to people running for office.
As it stands, all election candidates have their home or office address included on election ballot papers.
In a statement Costello said it is an issue of particular concern in light of “the rise in activity of individuals on the far-right”.
He pointed to an incident last month where a rock was thrown through the front window of Independent councillor for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Hugh Lewis’ family home in Ballybrack and said this was a “manifestation of this hate”.
Incidents like these have been on the rise in recent years and politicians have increasingly highlighed safety concerns as a result.
Earlier this year, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns spoke publicly about how she was left terrified after an online stalker showed up at her home one night in 2022.
Similarly, junior minister at the Department of Health Anne Rabbitte and her Galway East constituency colleague, Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon reportedly had bags of excrement thrown at them at a meeting back in January.
And relatedly, politicians like Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy have also had to deal with protests being held outside their homes.
At the time, Varadkar said such protests were “unfair on his neighbours who didn’t sign up to have a politician living next door”.
In January, Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne introduced a bill that would ban protests outside homes. The Senator also said the legislation could apply to protests outside direct provision centres.
The bill has received cross-party support and is waiting to progress to committee stage. Byrne told The Journal today that he is hopeful this will happen in Autumn when the Oireachtas returns from its reccess.
Speaking to The Journal, Byrne, who has previously had a rock thrown through his office’s window, said he supports Costello’s call to stop publishing election candidates’ home addresses on ballot papers.
He said it is important to protect the privacy of the person who “has the courage to put their name on a ballot paper”.
Byrne added that it relates to the legislation he is bringing forward in that “those who protest outside the homes of those who have the courage to put their name on a ballot paper, rarely have the courage to put their own name on a ballot paper”.
Related to this, Byrne said he has spoken to potential younger election candidates who are put off running for elections because of concerns around safety and abuse.
“Particularly around the abuse on social media, that is a concern. But you are now seeing extremist groups going beyond what is acceptable,” Byrne said.
“Yes you can disagree with somebody’s opinions, their politics or views, but there is a way of expressing that.
He added:
“It is going to be more difficult to encourage more people to get into politics when you see those unacceptable levels of abuse starting to grow.”
Byrnes’s concerns were echoed by Fiona O’Loughlin, Fianna Fáil Senator and chair of the Irish Women’s Parliamentary Caucus.
O’Loughlin said she has previously written to the Minister to suggest that a candidate’s full home address is not published on a ballot paper.
“The electorate are entitled to know where candidates live- but the exact address is not necessary,” O’Loughlin said.
Instead, she has proposed that candidates could sign an affidavit as to their address and that only a town or townland should be included on a ballot paper.
“The the present situation could be off putting for candidates, and they are thinking obviously, not just of themselves, but family members and neighbours. This small change would a beneficial one, and a positive one,” O’Loughlin added.
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